Time Warner Cable Bringing Live TV To Xbox 360

Later this summer some Xbox 360 owners will have the chance to watch over 300 live TV channels on their console thanks to a new partnership between Microsoft and Time Warner Cable.

The partnership will bring the TWC TV app to the Xbox 360 sometime in the next few months, letting users watch live TV without using their cable box. The app doesn’t have every channel Time Warner Cable offers, but with more than 300 channels including AMC, BBC America, Comedy Central, and Bravo some can likely use the app as a replacement for a cable box.

The TWC TV app is the same app that’s currently available on Roku boxes, iOS and Android. The Xbox 360 version has a feature those other apps lack.

Xbox 360 owners with a Kinect can use the device to control the app with gestures and voice commands, giving users a hint of how the Xbox One will let them control live TV. Xbox 360 owners may want to stick with using a controller instead of struggling to get the current Kinect to understand their voice commands, as the current Kinect isn’t as capable as the upcoming version.

While the new deal only covers the Xbox 360, there’s a chance Microsoft and Time Warner Cable will bring TWC TV and possibly other features to the Xbox One later this year. One of Microsoft’s big focuses with the Xbox One is it’s new media capabilities. The Xbox One has an HDMI-in port that will let users watch live TV from their cable box using the Kinect voice commands of the new console.

A Time Warner Cable app on the Xbox One would theoretically let gamers snap live TV to one side of the screen while they play a game on the rest of their TV. It’s not a setup that everyone will want, but for those gamers who like to watch TV and play games at the same time the Xbox One will make doing so much easier.